Come as You Are...

In 1995, I was lost, alone, seeking *something*, trying desperately to fill the void in my life. I knew I wanted a relationship with God, but how? He wouldn't love me the way I was right? I couldn't have been more wrong. He wanted me dispite the errors I had made in my life. I am so thankful that he loved me, even when I was unloveable.


"Hookers and Robbers" HD typography from Northland Media Design on Vimeo.

Day in the Life

Yes... I know... more workboxes! LOL This has been day 4 of our workbox system and can I tell you that it really works?? I just wanted to show you a few pictures of how we have made this system work for us. To the left you see how we start our day.


Then we work down a few boxes...




Snack time!



This is how we place our boxes (both kids plunk their boxes down in this tub.) They know that books go to the side. They had the drill down on day 1!




And what a wonderful sense of accomplishment we ALL have after their day is done when we see an empty rack. Ahhhhh...

Oh, and BTW, I timed myself at filling them back up. Total time 17 mintues and 23 seconds. That is from the bin, to the racks ready for the next day. Not too bad if I do say so myself! ;)

School funny...

We work at a Children's Home and while we are working, we still have school up at our house which is about 2 minutes away. Today when we were walking to the van to drive home my dd turned to me and said "Bye Mommy! We are getting on the bus to go to school!" I played along and said "Bye! Have a great day!"

I got in the van and I asked "who am I now?" My dd said "you are Ms. Mom my teacher" and my ds piped in, "no, you are Ms. Jane! That is a good teacher name!"

I thought that was quite a compliment since Ms. Jane is the author of Five in a Row! I don't think Luke actually was trying to make that connection, but I would love to be Ms. Jane anyday...

Day One! So far, so good!

Today went really well! The kids had a blast wondering what was next and it kept their attention to move from one box to another without having for me to set things up for them. Huge plus!

Here is a neat peek into our morning.


We were done by 12:30 and had a nice lunch outside. I feel so accomplished and so do my kids! They were really proud of all they had done. It is 2:30pm and their boxes are already filled for tomorrow - it only took a few minutes to switch out boxes and put them back in. I think I can do this!

Workboxes!

*** DISCLAIMER ***
This method of school will be begun on Monday 3/9/09. In no way am I saying I will stick with this for any period of time! I am just excited to show what I have done so far. I am a real person who starts and stops things all the time but I *think* this will be a great fit for me and my children! Now read on...




Leslie over at Joyful Mother of 6 shared a wonderful system that has revolutionized her homeschool! The more she shared, the more a spark of intrest grew inside of me. More fun? More learning? More opportunities to do the things you *want* to do but don't? I was in.

Sue Patrick has 2 children and set up a method of workboxes to use since her kids have been 18 months! Brilliant so I ordered the book and the starter kit and it arrived in a few days.



Off to Target I went for my boxes and racks. What started out as just a system for my daughter, blossomed into two systems for both of my children. Now I live in a tiny townhouse where I have a small living room, kitchen with a 4 person dining area. At first I thought that the racks would take up too much room but it was a lot more compact than I had thought of. I think they will reside in front of that window which is right in back of my dining table where the kids do school. It is central in my home and they are portable enough that if I want to move them for company, I can just scoot them in my bedroom walk-in closet.




I am going to make a small index card box full of fun ideas that I would love to use in my homeschool but rarely don't because either I don't have time, am unprepared, or just forget about (stuffed in a closet etc.)My goal is to rotate the cards every day as I use them in the boxes.

Stay tuned for my list of cards!